


at your back.

by houmei



Category: Todd Allison & the Petunia Violet
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-17
Updated: 2013-06-17
Packaged: 2017-12-15 06:33:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,289
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/846410
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/houmei/pseuds/houmei
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Two silly boys on a hill and a promise.</p>
            </blockquote>





	at your back.

A group of dirty-kneed, smudged nose teens peer around the corner of a lone classroom. There's a momentary pause of them leaning against each other's shoulders and backs before a screech splits the air and they all scatter, laughing. Girls in skirts and waving ribbons follow after in chase. Elijah doesn't pay much attention to them, but he watches them with the intensity of one that has nothing else to watch, or has possibly seen all there is to see. He's looking at them but he's not thinking about them. A few of his own classmates linger around, idle and still like driftwood from the sea, shifting only to kick at dust and stub out their cigarettes. Whether they lie on the grass or graze around in docile packs, Elijah can spot them from here, in this view on top of the green hill.

His view is briefly obscured from the smoke of his own stick and he billows out one last time before looking over at Meredith. He's even quieter than those in his class, even more still than the subdued fellows who sit with him. He notes that Meredith's bandages are dirty again, but its inevitable considering how much he draws in his spare time. They're blemished in charcoal but Meredith doesn't seem to mind. Elijah thinks he may have completely sunk into himself, and he represses the urge to pull Meredith back to him, whether by means of shaking his shoulders or laughing at something so rambunctiously that Meredith would have no choice but to look at him. As it turns out he doesn't need to because Meredith moves then, only adjusting his weight on his crossed legs. He's sketching, which actually explains a lot. Elijah knows the boundaries there but it surely can't stop his voice.

"I figure we have about twenty minutes left," He huffs out smoke between his lips in an ugly grimace. "before the bell rings. That sounds about right, yeah?" Elijah doesn't wait for the response as he leans back and lets the grass poke and tickle his back. He rests his weight on his elbows and stares up...and decidedly finds the vast sky very boring.

"Meredith!" Elijah thumps his hand against the soft ground. "I have something to ask you. And I know you'll answer me as honestly as you can." His voice is just a bit aloof, his words carelessly tossed here and there. There's a quiet moment but Meredith will hear them regardless and lets him know by canting his head just slightly towards him before glancing at him. "Hm?"

Ah, there's the elation. He continues on with a leading smile. "Just out of curiosity. Let's say I was incapacitated." Meredith squints. "That I was injured and I couldn't defend myself. Just for a short time, maybe a day or two? Anyways, let's say I'm hurt and someone is about to get the better of us. Would you fight them? Beat them up?" Elijah brightens significantly at this last word and looks straight at Meredith. His responses (the non-verbal ones) are always the best.

Meredith would disagree. If he weren't too busy staring at Elijah as if he were just suggesting to prove it right then and there. No, it's hardly a matter of contemplating, because he already knew the minute Elijah decided to ask. But he finds himself quiet either way, letting his eyes wander over his paper and then back to Elijah. He weighs the look of expectation with his own eyes, and thinks that Elijah thinks too much. But he's also probably joking...in his own way. And the last thing Meredith needs is Elijah laughing over their inside joke (specifically at him) and him in fear of joining.

He knows Elijah, and despite the heaviness that might come with such a question, he easily looks away before easing an affirmative: "Yes." It's a breezy answer, simple and clear like the day hovering above them.

Elijah expected that. "Yes?" And yet, even so....well. Maybe the deeper part of the implication could wait. Just for now. "Really?" Elijah grins, he _really_ grins now. "No matter who it was?"

It sounds like Elijah already had someone in mind. Meredith raises his brows towards the sketchbook resting on his knees. "Yeah." Now he's just trying to make conversation.

"Hmmmm." A thoughtful hum and finally: "What if it was a world class wrestler, Meredith?? What then?" They both hear the laughter in Elijah's words and Meredith let's that funny snort escape his nose. "Yes."

"Well, then....what if it was Mrs. Jensen?"

...The old grouchy grammar teacher. Meredith really side-glances him this time, lifting one thin brow and very carefully stretching his answer. How would that even happen... "Uhm. Yes..."

And Elijah knows it. He smiles and pats the grass. "What if it were my evil twin!?"

A roll of dark eyes. "Yes."

"What if it were aliens??"

"Yes. "

"What if it were Albert Einstein!"

"Yes." Meredith thinks Elijah must have done something pretty bad to have all these people after him (something he hasn't already done)-

"What if it were a group of thugs right out of the penal farm, looking for a good tussle?"

"Ahaha.. yes."

"Meredith, you couldn't-" Elijah breaks off into a snorting laugh, to which Meredith smiles and shrugs.

"Haha, okay. What if...it were George Washington?"

"Yes," the smile's inflicted his words now, too.

"What if it were a magic genie from a lamp?"

"Yes."

"What if it were the Pope Pius XI?"

"Yes." Meredith's voice quiets - oh, he might be laughing a bit too. Elijah leans in.

"Santa Claus?"

"Mhm."

"Shakespeare!"

"...Yes."

"MEREDITH! You would beat up _Shakespeare??_ " By then Elijah has let the joke loose and let's his shoulders quake and tremble as he laughs. He can see Meredith completely bent over his book a hand over his mouth as he attempts to subdue the giggles and wheezes. "That's terrible!"

"Picking a fight with the Pope or Santa Claus, isn't?" Laughter halts him- Elijah always does this, always- "Pfft, stop-"

"What if - haha, what-" Elijah regains himself. "What if it were Moses and all the animals in the arc?"

"Sure." Meredith knows Elijah isn't trying to make sense anymore, just as well as he knows he'll be humoring him until Elijah is red in the face. "Is that it?"

"'Is that it' he says," Elijah chuckles and lets his head fall back and the grass prickles at his scalp. He feels all the words he would have said after school and at home and possibly for the rest of his life have left him with each heave of his chest and now he's left with nothing else to say. At least nothing of great importance. Anything else that could have been read between the lines and between their gasps of breathes and smiles is easily forgotten. The implications are there, but for now no words of depth are spoken.

That little truth is indisputable between them. They always know when to embrace the silence.

"Well, don't worry. I'll make sure never to end up that badly injured. You'll need my help, I'm sure." The last word is punctuated with a slow yawn and Elijah misses Meredith's amused huff of acknowledgement. He thinks to say more and almost does, but the old chime of the bell echoes out like an intrusion, and Elijah stubs out his cigarette under his shoe. Neither of them move, despite the wind pushing at their backs. He finds himself watching the scatterings of children return to their classes, and thinks of how not one of those kids will experience the silent promise made in their moment.

Elijah looks at Meredith. Meredith is watching them too.


End file.
